Method of opening and cleaning poultry gizzards



1953 e. R. BIDDINGER ETAL 2,657,424

' METHOD OF OPENING AND CLEANING POULTRY GIZZARDS Filed July 22, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l G uy E'- cEIZ/dfrt g e r Car/ .77. 11 an;

ATT RNEY 1953 5. R. BIDDINGER ETAL 2,657,424

METHOD OF OPENING .AND CLEANING POULTRY GIZZARDS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 22, 1950 IIII INVEN TORS Kidd 7 ugger Guy 4?.

Carl Ml ATTO NEY Patented Nov. 3, 1953 METHOD OF OPENING AND CLEANING POULTRY GIZZARDS Guy R. Biddinger, Bellwood, and Carl H. Koonz, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Swift & Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application July 22, 1950, Serial No. 175,412

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to a method for use in the opening and cleaning of poultry gizzards or the like.

In the dressing of poultry on a commercial scale, particularly poultry which is to be cut up before distribution, it is desirable that each portion of the bird be completely prepared for cooking. The housewife is much more likely to buy a product which merely need be cooked than she is to buy one which requires additional processing before the cooking operation can be started. To this end, the gizzards of the birds are cut open and the contents and the inner lining of the gizzard removed before it is marketed. As a matter of fact, this practice has become so prevalent that it has come to be accepted on the part of the housewives and they possibly would overlook performing the step themselves should they buy a bird which had not been so dressed.

The common practice has been to perform the necessary operations in the cleaning and preparation of poultry gizzards solely by hand. A. principalobject of the present invention is to provide a method whereby the opening and cleaning of the gizzard may be easily and quickly performed. A particular feature of the present invention is its adaptability for continuous machine operation. Through the use of the present invention for opening and washing the gizzards the production of prepared poultry gizzards may be greatly increased and the unit preparation cost substantially reduced.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention include a method which is simple to use and, yet, which will greatly facilitate the opening and cleaning of poultry gizzards.

Additional objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the embodiment of Fig. l, with a portion thereof broken away;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the opening head of the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a section taken at line 44 of Fig. 3.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 through 3, the poultry gizzarcls ID are transported to an opening head, generally II, by means of a carrier, generally l2. After the .212.- zards are opened they are then transported through the washer, generally I3, by a conveyor, generally M, where the contents of the gizzards bearings 23 attached to frame 2i.

reducer 24.

*to belt [6 by means of a bracket 21.

are disposed of and the gizzards thoroughly cleaned.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the conveyor 14 includes a belt 16 of a suitable material, preferably one which is impervious to the action of water or the chemicals which may be involved. The belt I6 is rotated about a pair of pulleys l'i', one of which is driven by a suitable power means, generally l8.

The axles IQ of pulleys I! are journalled in Power means I8 consists of an electric motor 23 and a speed The speed of the belt, and therefore the amount of speed reduction required, will be determined by the manner of loading the machine with the gizzards to be opened as will hereinafter be explained. Generally speaking,

the speed will be quite low.

Each of carriers l2 includes a pale 23 attached One leg of the angular bracket 2'! is bolted to the belt "l6 by means of bolts 25 as illustrated in Fig. 3. The outwardly-projecting leg of bracket 2! also forms an abutment for the gizzards on pale 26 as will be hereinafter described. To increase the abutment area, the outwardly-projecting legs of bracket 21 may have portions extending beyond the point of attachment between the pale 26 and the bracket 21 as illustrated at 29 (Fig. 3).

Each pale 26 is formed with a longitudinal groove 28 therein on the side thereof away from the conveyor l4 (as best seen in Fig. 4).

The groove is sufiiciently large to receive at least a portion of the lower edge of the gizzard-cutting knife.

Opening head [I includes a mounting bracket 30 attached to frame 2| and supporting a knife 3| along the path traversed by pales 2B. The knife 3| is pointed and the edge 32 thereof which faces the approaching gizzards is sharpened as illustrated in Fig. 3. The edge 32 slopes upwardly a sufiicient distance to be well above the top of the gizzards carried on pale 26. The projecting point of knife 3| is positioned to be received within the groove 28 in pale 25.

Attached to the rearwardly end of knife 3i are a pair of extending wings 33 to spread the sides of the gizzards as they are cut by knife 3!. Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the washer [3 includes a water spray head 36 connected to a suitable water supply by means of a pipe 31 having a control valve 38 therein. An enclosure such as pan 39 is utilized to catchthe water and material removed from the gizzards 3 and to conduct them to a suitable disposal point through a drainpipe 40.

The method of opening the gizzards is to impale the gizzards on carrier 12 and then to slip the knife through the gizzard above the carrier and by a movement of the knife edge relative to the carrier to cut the portion of .thegizzard above the carrier. In the illustrated embodiment, this is achieved by means of the tapered edge 32 of knife 3|. The pale 26 provides an opening through two opposite walls of the gizzard Hi, and the portions of those walls above the pale are cut by inserting the knife 3| into groove 28 in :the pale 26, with the knife blade longitudinally parallel to the groove, and sliding the edge of the knife through the portion of the g'izzard above said opening. The abutment formed by the outstanding leg of bracket 21 and ear portions 129 acts as a pusher member to move the gizzard supported on pale 26 into .the knife as the carrier l2is moved by belt .I 6.

The'tapere'd edge of the knife has theefiect of moving the knife edge away from the pale 'as the knife and the pale move longitudinally toward one another. knife afford some transverse support to the g'izzard.

The point of insertion of the pale through the gizzard is preferably adjacent the inside of the bottom wall of the gizzard as illustrated in Fig. 4. ".[n this way the out in the 'gizzard is sufficiently .large'to permit the complete opening and cleaning of the gizzard.

In some instances the sides of the gizzard, after the'gizzard has been severed by knife "3 l will fall 'awayfrom aboutpale 26 and the sides of the giz- 'zard will be supported on belt Hi. If this does not occur, the'separating of the sides of the gizzard will be performed by means of wings After the gizzard has been laid out flat on conveyor [4 it is cleaned by passing through washer 13.

The gizzards may be loaded onto pales by an operator. The operator merely stands at the right-hand'end of the conveyor in Figs. 1 and 2 and as the pales come around the right-hand pulley H the gizzards may be slipped thereover. The movement of the pales around pulley I1 is such that the pales stand out away from the belt i6 a substantially greater distancethan is normally true inasmuch as they tend to assume a tangential position with respect to the pulley.

After the gizzards pass'through washer 13 they are carried along the conveyor to the end thereof =whereupon they drop into a bin 4| positioned under the pulley H.

In addition, the flat sides of the r The foregoing description is for the purpose of complying with section 4888 of the revised statutes and should not be construed as imposing unnecessary limitations upon the appended claims. Certain modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which this most nearly appertains, and such modifications may be made without deparzting ifromitheqspirit of the invention.

We claim:

1. The method of opening a poultry gizzard or .the like, including the steps of making an opening through two opposite walls of the gizzard and making a cut through one side wall of the gizzard with saidgcut being generally parallel to and intersectingsaid opening.

2. The method of cleaning the gizzards of poulitry or .the'ilike, including the steps of making an opening through two opposite walls of the gizzard adjacent one side thereof, making a cut through one side wall 'of the gizzard with said out being generally parallel to and intersecting said opening, separating the two severed portions of the gizzard, and washing the interior of the g'izzard.

3. The method of-cleaningthe gizzards of poultry or the like, including the steps of impaling the gizzard along a generally horizontal line,

making a'out through one sidewall-of the gizzard,

said cut-andsaid linelying-inagenerally vertical plane 1 and being positioned vertically with respect to each other,separatingthe two severed-portions of the gizzard, and washing :the interior of the gizzard. I

4. The method of opening a poultry gizzard or the like including the steps of impaling the gizzard along aline through two opposite-walls of the gizzard and-making a cut through one side wall of the giz'za'rd, said out and :sai'd'line being in a common plane.

GUY R. BIDDINGER. "CARL l-I. K'GON Z.

References Cited in .the file .of this :patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,536,782 Focke May *5, 1925 1,687,663 Gioldfinger Oct. .16, 1928 2,171,611 'Iolman et ,al. ,Sept. 5, .1939 2,237,203 Swanson Apr. 1, 1,941 2,306,773 Bifiinger Dec. .29, 1942 2,310,881 Swanson Feb..9, 1943 2,403,517 lGaddini July 9, 1946 2,429,749 Dunn Oct. 28 1947 

